


A Nerd After All

by TazWren



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, High School, Jock Ben, Mean Girlfriend Bazine, Nerd Rey, Reylo - Freeform, Star Wars References, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, SwoloFic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 15:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17226284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TazWren/pseuds/TazWren
Summary: Lux, here's the ficlet you asked for: High school AU, Popular Ben, Dorky/Nerdy Rey, Mean Bazine, Enemies / Strangers to Lovers...I hope this puts a smile on your face - get well soon, my friend!





	A Nerd After All

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Lux, here's the ficlet you asked for: High school AU, Popular Ben, Dorky/Nerdy Rey, Mean Bazine, Enemies / Strangers to Lovers...
> 
> I hope this puts a smile on your face - get well soon, my friend!

 

Nothing got to Ben Solo much as he strolled through life in high school. Even if he hadn't been built like an underwear model, as the captain of the basketball team he was pretty much school royalty. And with that came his court of hangers-on, and what seemed almost mandatory - a cheerleader girlfriend. Bazine was...pretty, if not necessarily interesting - she certainly didn't understand his love of all things Star Wars, for example. Notwithstanding, it was a life of cruising through his classes — just because he was a jock, it didn't mean he wasn't smart — playing a sport he loved, getting the first pick at pretty much everything. It was a good life, and nothing much got to him.  
  
Nothing, at least, until Rey & Finn transferred in, newly fostered with Coach Andor. In a sea of students that he rarely paid attention to her's was suddenly the only face to keep jumping out at him. He saw her as she walked out of Math Club, arguing formulae with the other nerds. He saw her, grease-stained, goggles over intent hazel eyes, working with a welder in Auto Class. He saw her reading on the bleachers as she waited for her brother to finish practice. He saw her laughing, clapping Poe on the shoulder, as his teammate sat with Finn and her at the pizza parlour. He couldn't stop seeing her, and her ridiculous green Star Wars bag with the white symbol of the Rebels, blazoned on it, as she strode through the halls of their school, confident and oblivious to any looks or comments that may have trailed her. For Rey surfed where he strolled, intent only on whatever her current goal was, and letting the rest curl over her like so much seawater.  
  
Like a force of nature, she blew through his previously relaxed existence and left him curiously hungry for yet another glimpse of her. He couldn't explain why it was, but every time he saw her, undoubtedly triumphing over one activity or the other, he felt a surge of… something… something that made his throat tighten and fingers tingle. And yet, Ben Solo did nothing to alter his course, and actively fall into her orbit.  
  
Nothing, at least, until the day she tore past him in the hallway as school was letting out, face wet with tears, red with anger. Ben stopped in his tracks to stare after her, his hand automatically lifting in a silent, futile attempt to... what? Stop her? He found that the idea of Rey being distressed enough to cry churned in his gut. At the click and clack of heels, he turned to see Bazine sashaying up to him, glint in her eyes, a cruel twist to her smile as she watched Rey run out the exit.  
  
"What just happened?" He couldn't help asking.  
  
"Oh, nothing… Little Ms Nobody just got put in her place." Bazine smirked as she slid her hand around Ben's arm and snugged herself close "Come on, I want to go look for a dress for Hux's party this weekend."  
  
Ben extricated his arm from her grip, stepping back as he frowned down at her, "What do you mean? What the fuck did you say to her?"  
  
Bazine drew her head back and stared at her boyfriend, "Don't you be talking to me that way! And why do you care, anyway? She's just a piece of trash."  
  
Ben Solo had always been taught that one never hit a woman, no matter what. No matter what.

Which was probably the only thing keeping him from reacting physically at Bazine's careless words.  
  
"What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Say?" He gritted out through clenched teeth, hands fisted in his pockets to keep him from doing something he would later regret.  
  
Bazine was many things, stupid was not one of them. She knew anger barely held in check when she saw it and knew better than to tangle with it. "I told her she was a nobody, that since her own parents tossed her in the trash, her opinions weren't worth anything. She was trying to tell us how to plan a prom." Bazine scoffed, flicking her fingers in dismissal.  
  
Ben stared at her, not believing the cruel words that fell so casually from her lips. He had known and ignored, the mean streak Bazine had shown not long after they got together, constantly commenting on someone or the other. He had ignored it as something girls did, and didn't let it bother him. Until now. Until she had made Rey a victim of her vitriol.  
  
Not bothering to speak, he spun on his heel and strode for the doors, letting Bazine's startled squawk roll off of him. As he exited the building he heard her yelling after him "We're through, you hear me, Ben Solo? Through! You can't talk to me that way!"

____________________________________

 

Running down the stairs, dodging past other students who wouldn't stop getting in his way, Ben used his considerable height to scan the crowd for Rey. He spied a flash of green off to the side, going around a corner. He took off after her, hurdling over a hapless pair unwittingly sitting in the grass right in his path. Shouting a hurried "Sorry!" over his shoulder Ben sprinted, pounding the pavement hard. He could not have said what was propelling him, only that he had to get to Rey, make sure she was ok.  
  
There! He saw her walking down the pavement, head down, shoulders hunched, her green bag perched on her back. At the sound of his feet slapping behind her, she looked over her shoulder, stopping as she spied him charging up.  As Ben reached her, stopping with a gasp and bending over to catch his breath, Rey took an involuntary step back.  
  
"Wait," he wheezed, raising a finger "just....wait!"  
  
Recognizing Ben instantly as Bazine's boyfriend, Rey glared at him, angry tears burning in her eyes "What, did your girlfriend send you to say more shit to me? Leave me alone!". Dashing the tears away with the back of her hand, she spun around to walk away, when she heard him speaking softly "I'm sorry."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve what she said."  
  
Rey didn't turn around but she didn't keep walking either. Encouraged, Ben stepped up next to her and brought his hand up to lightly touch her arm "You're not a nobody. Not to me. And Bazine is not my girlfriend".  
  
Ben waited, as Rey stood still under his touch, scarcely breathing. He didn't wait long before she shook her head.  
  
"How am I supposed to believe that? You've never spoken one word to me and suddenly now I'm, what, something to you?"  
  
Ben didn't know what to say to that. Only that he was coming to the realization that he did want her to be something to him. His eyes dropped to her bag, her unapologetic love of Star Wars on display, and inspiration struck him.  
  
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." he said and watched as her jaw dropped.  
  
"Are you quoting Vader to me?"  
  
"I am not the Jedi I should be."  
  
"Seriously?" she turned around to face him, the anger gone from her face, confusion showing instead.  
  
He had one last card to play, "Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you were meant to be."  
  
"You realize you are quoting Dark Siders to me, right now?"  
  
Ben bent his head so he could look her in the eye, "I know we don't know each other very well, right now, but I'd like to change that. If you let me."  
  
Rey searched his face, hopefully seeing that he meant what he said, and then she nodded. "I think I will, I'd like that."  
  
Ben straightened, a widening smile transforming his face "Great! There's a double feature of the sequel trilogy showing today. Would you want to go with me?"  
  
Rey barked a laugh "Are you asking me on a Star Wars date?"  
  
"I do believe I am… join me, please." He opened his hand and extended it to her.  
  
Rey chuckled, a matching grin on her face, before slipping her hand into his.  
  
"You are such a nerd!"

____________________________________

**Author's Note:**

> Big Love 
> 
> To [Wilson66](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wilson66/pseuds/Wilson66) for the moodboard and for doing her first beta read with me!
> 
> To [deadlikemoi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadlikemoi/pseuds/deadlikemoi) for helping beta this ficlet!


End file.
